The main time of the return quarterfinal of the RPL Path of the Cup of Russia, held at the RZD Arena, ended with a score of 1:0 in favor of the blue and white. Dynamo were also stronger in the penalty shootout – 4:3.
Marcel Licka immediately made 5 changes to the starting lineup after the game in Voronezh. Andrei Lunev, who recovered, returned to the goal, Alexander Kutitskiy and El-Mehdi Mauhuba, who were injured, were replaced by Fabian Balbuena and Konstantin Tyukavin, Jorge Carrascal appeared in the center of the field from the first minutes, and Nicolas Ngamaleus' appeared on the left flank.
Lokomotiv started the meeting more actively, but was marked only by Maxim Nenakhov's strike above the gate. Luis Chavez was more accurate, and Anton Mitryushkin entered the game for the first time. Next, Yaroslav Gladyshev rocked his opponent and rolled Fabian Balbuena well under the blow – once again the goalkeeper of the hosts played reliably, and after giving a corner, Tyukavin struck with his head next to the bar.
Dynamo needed to win, and sometimes they controlled the ball for a long time, but the tight game of the railwaymen did not allow the fast attacking players of our team to run away. The Ngamaleu was able to pass three opponents due to dribbling, and only the substituted leg of Ilya Samoshnikov saved the hosts from trouble.
At the 30th minute, Lokomotiv was left without its best scorer in the Cup - Dmitry Vorobyov replaced the limping Timur Suleymanov. At the end of the half, the most acute moment happened: Eli Dasa famously figured out the attack and found Tyukavin in the penalty area, whose shot was deflected from 11 meters by Mitryushkin.
At the beginning of the second half, Lunev already had to neutralize the one-on-one exit of Nair Tiknizyan, which he brilliantly coped with. The blue and white responded with a cool combination, which, after the transfer of Luis Chavez, was completed by Carrascal - Mitryushkin with a tight shot from behind the penalty box again coped.
Gradually, free zones began to appear in the defense of Lokomotiv, which Dynamo used. Gladyshev first cunningly struck from the corner of the penalty area, after which Mitryushkin transferred the ball to the crossbar, and a little later powerfully charged from 16 meters, but hit Tyukavin.
In the middle of the half, the railwaymen lost their captain – Dmitry Barinov was injured, and they could also lose their main defender when Pavel Kukuyan missed a rough blow to Tyukavin's head from Zherzino Nyamsi, who already had a yellow card.
Bitello, Artur and Daniil Fomin entered the field for the last 15 minutes. And fresh players could quickly open the account – Bitello adjusted himself under the canopy of Ngamaleu, threw the ball to Fomin, and he almost missed the far corner. Next, Bitello played into the wall with Arthur and found Tyukavin, but the defender hit him from close range at the last moment.
And yet, in the 89th minute, our team achieved its goal. Arthur wound up two defenders on the left flank and hung in the penalty area on Tyukavin, who drove the ball under the crossbar with a blow from the summer! Vyacheslav Grulev, Artur, Ngamaleu and Dasa scored their shots in the penalty shootout, and Lunev was able to beat Nyamsi and Vadim Rakov.
The draw for the next cup stage will be held on Saturday, and in the next RPL match Dynamo will meet Akhmat away on December 2.